Peter

Thank you for your Christmas greetings and sharing Christmas Air Letter with us - a nice item

Mike  :)

With the text written on the postcard, what an excellent find Frank, well done.

Mike

Many thanks for your response Peter.

Mike

Can anyone provide any further details about Canadian troops camped near Swanley Village in Kent in WW1 please:

[color=maroon]Can you tell me anything about Canada Heights, off Button Street, near Swanley Village in Kent. Apparently "...Canada Heights, acquired its name during the 1914-18 War when a large contingent of Canadian troops were camped there on the high ground..."

See for location:[url=http://www.sidcupmotorcycleclub.co.uk/old/misc/venues/venues_canada_heights_directions.htm] http://www.sidcupmotorcycleclub.co.uk/old/misc/venues/venues_canada_heights_directions.htm[/url][/color]

Thanks, Mike

I wonder if this might have something to do with the Dutch Royal family?  I have found the following reference to Maidenhead:

Soon Wilhelmina also searched for a house, where she would live with her son-in-law Prince Bernhard. Their first address was 82 Eaton Square in Belgravia, London. From the balcony of her living room she had a good view on Eaton Square with its trees. She wouldn't live there very long, and soon found herself a house in Roehampton, outside London. Especially during the Blitzkrieg in the Summer 1940 she prefered Eaton Square above Roehampton. [b]In October 1940 Prince Bernhard found them Stubbings House near Maidenhead[/b]. The London office moved to nearby 77 Chester Square, where a small memorial plaque on the wall still commemorates the past of the house. Wilhelmina moved from Stubbings House to The Grange near South Mimms, which was however too close to some airports and became too dangerous. She [b]in early 1944 moved back to Stubbings House [/b]and to Laneswood in Mortimer near Reading at Easter 1944, where she stayed until May 1945.

The only reference to RNIA I can find is to Royal Netherlands Indies Army

This link appears to provide a list of historic locations in the UK used by the Dutch - but does not help much in your search:
[url=https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj-0ZTPw8btAhVkzoUKHdeGDxAQFjALegQIBBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.netherlandsworldwide.nl%2Fbinaries%2Fen-nederlandwereldwijd%2Fdocuments%2Fpublications%2F2016%2F12%2F06%2Fen-8-nov.pdf%2Fen-8-nov.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0Hjzd1h00OczhDUy8mhOVS]https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwj-0ZTPw8btAhVkzoUKHdeGDxAQFjALegQIBBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.netherlandsworldwide.nl%2Fbinaries%2Fen-nederlandwereldwijd%2Fdocuments%2Fpublications%2F2016%2F12%2F06%2Fen-8-nov.pdf%2Fen-8-nov.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0Hjzd1h00OczhDUy8mhOVS[/url]

A bit of a mystery - I hope someone can help!

Mike

Peter

I don't know where Proud got his Northern Ireland and Nuremburg Germany locations from.

Unattributed FPO locations WW2 show the following:

4 Jun 1942 - 3 APDC Crewe
18 Sep 1943 - transferred to 1 APDC
5 Feb 1946 - with 1 APDC
21 Sep 1948 - S/P only returned HPC RE? ex 1 APDC (S/P = sealing press)

1 APDC (Army Postal Distribution Centre) was located in London.

I have a record of 22 FE 46 with handstamp DAPS (John Daynes records) which appears to tie in with the datestamp return of 5 Feb 1946 above (i.e. London).

I don't have access to Alistair Kennedy's WW2 record cards - who does?

Mike  :)

Yes, agreed - Admiral Commanding - there are several online references to such positions:

[url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_Commanding,_Reserves]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admiral_Commanding,_Reserves
[/url]
Rosyth was commanded by an admiral, with the title of Admiral Commanding on the Coast of Scotland
[url=https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1922/feb/22/commanders-in-chief-home-stations]https://api.parliament.uk/historic-hansard/commons/1922/feb/22/commanders-in-chief-home-stations[/url]

VICE ADMIRAL SIR JAMES F SOMERVILLE, KCB, DSO, ADMIRAL COMMANDING BRITISH NAVAL FORCES IN WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN.
[url=https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137973]https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205137973[/url] this being WW2

Mike  :)

Nick

Thanks for that - caused me to re-think - on the back of the cover on the PASSED BY CENSOR label there are the initials E.H.T.
If these are the initials of the censor then I would expect them to be in the same colour as the wording "PASSD" ? They are not.

Also the censor label is on the side - is the side on which the label has been placed slit ?
I would have thought so, if the censor was re-sealing the cover - also I would have thought the recipient would have opened it along this side with slit sealed with the label, rather than roughly opening it along the top.

I am inclind to consider it to be a faked censored cover.

Mike  :)

Neil

Are your sure that it is 1950?  It doesn't look like a perfect 'zero' to me.  I immediately think of the Suez crisis in 1956.  Marc Parren in his draft publication on Suez states "In the event of military operations being undertaken in the Eastern Mediterranean it was felt necessary to impose civil censorship in Aden, Cyprus and Malta."  Could the year, in fact, be '56' ?

Mike  :)

The Forces Air Letter is addressed to Harold Hare, a well known collector at the time, a Society member (now deceased).

I have attached an extract from my notes on trying to set up a postal facility in Majunga in the period 1966/67 without success, hence mails had to be forwarded to Bahrain to be dealt with.

Mike  :)

Thanks Frank, a very poignant reminder of the fatalities of war and of what we can learn in collecting the postal history of the time.
It also shows what good research can bring forth.

Mike

Chris

I'm by no means an expert in WW1 or the Greek language - but here goes!  As I type this I see that Nick has beaten me to it!

I am a little puzzled - the card appears to have been written on 10-11-15 and yet you say the stamp is postmarked 29 Oct?
There is a machine cancellation on the front on 2 November:

November = Νοεμβριος

ΠEIPAIEYΣ = Piraeus

The dates don't add up - as Nick has stated were there different calendars in use.

I also agree with Nick that it looks like 27th not 29th.

Mike

Ross

Sorry I cannot help - I have looked through the late Alstair Kennedy's censor ledger and he has not recorded 5906.
However, I don't think that it would have been allocated to a troopship per say - it would have been allocated to a unit or detachment aboard the troopship and so would have been used before and after the troopship voyage as well.

Mike

(PS: I have now modified the censor number in the topic heading from 6906 to 5906!)

Graham

A good response there from Reg Gleave.

As I understand it the correct title for AMC Rawalpindi is Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Rawalpindi - navy buffs please correct me if I am wrong!

Mike

Graham

I could be wrong - the name you gave does not appear to be on the memorial:
the Eagle Squadron Memorial in Grosvenor Square, London not far from the former American Embassy

[url=https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=202&MemID=310]https://www.uswarmemorials.org/html/monument_details.php?SiteID=202&MemID=310[/url]

Mike